Clues from the Census Records

Genealogy 103: Post Civil War Immigrant Sources, Lesson 1

by Genealogy Research Associates

It does not take most family historians long to learn about census records. They are a mainstay of much of the initial research most people conduct. However, as we deal with immigration, the experienced researcher will quickly point out that an immigrant's birth town is not given on census records.

Just how can census records help to locate an immigrant's origins?

Welcome to a New Course

Congratulations! You've completed our introductory course in Tracing Immigrant Origins. In that course, you have learned two important concepts about tracking the origins of your immigrant origins:

You must carefully identify the immigrant and thoroughly search the records in order to make sure that you have indeed located the correct person when you get to records in the old country.

Recent immigrants (those who arrived in the twentieth century) are documented in a variety of sources and are usually the easiest of immigrants to locate.

Now, since you have completed the previous lessons and (hopefully) the assignments as well, you are prepared to move forward.

Key Sources

In this intermediate course, we will explore the key sources useful to find the origins of immigrants who arrived before about 1900. Of course, some of those immigrants may appear in the sources we discussed in the introductory course, but now we are beginning more difficult cases. Indeed, the further back in time the immigrant arrived, the more difficult it is to locate his or her origins in the home country.

Remember, as we study these various sources, they may also well apply to immigrants who came during different time periods. We are simply discussing the various records in the immigration time period where these sources are most helpful.

During this intermediate course, we will discuss three different immigration time periods and, within those three time periods, we will discuss six or seven different groups of records for each period.

The first period we will cover deals with immigrants who arrived after the U.S. Civil War (between about 1865 and 1900). These will be called "Post Civil War Immigrant Sources."

Later lessons will cover immigrants who arrived between 1820 and the Civil War. These will be called "Sources for Immigrant Origins, 1820-1860."

The final phase in this course will discuss sources for pre-1820 immigrants. These will be called "Sources for Tracing Colonial Immigrants."

With an understanding of the methodology and sources taught in the introductory and intermediate courses, you will be ready for Course 4: Tracing Immigrant Origins Part III, Sources from the Country of Origin.

As we learned in the introductory course, we always try to locate an immigrant's origin using records in the U.S. However, for some difficult problems, we need to consider foreign sources which document the home town. This can be a particularly difficult approach but, when done well, can be rewarding.

For now, let's focus on what we can learn from sources in the U.S. and Canada. Even if we don't learn the specific town from which an individual emigrated in these sources, they will provide crucial information for our advanced studies.

Birth Places in the Census

Experienced researchers have seen that foreign birth towns seldom appear in U.S. or Canadian census records. However, it makes a pleasant surprise to find that sometimes they do indeed appear.

One case in particular is the 1860 census of St. Louis: most of the immigrants in the second ward of that city have specific birth places listed on the census! There were many Irish in that ward, and the minimal information entered by the enumerator was the Irish birth county. Additionally, specific towns appear for many of these immigrants.

Of course, this is an exception that occurs only seldom. Other researchers have also reported finding specific birth towns in census records, sometimes for a whole area, and sometimes only for a specific individual or family. As rare as these circumstances may be, it does point out that a researcher should never assume they will learn nothing new from a record they have not yet searched.

In this way, this example re-enforces a concept shown in the early lessons of the introductory course: Search every source. They all provide clues, and sometimes even answers! It is also important to remember that, since the place names in these census records usually refer to states or provinces, German places such as Hannover or Baden will refer to the states having those names, not the cities which also share those names.

The importance of locating the immigrant in the census records lies in what you will learn about them in those records. In particular, the U.S. censuses for 1860 and 1870 seldom just mention "Germany" for German immigrants. This is because there really was no Germany until after 1870. Therefore, most of the time, the census gives the German state for such immigrants.

Thus, an immigrant only known to be from Germany may give a birth place of Baden, Bavaria, Saxony, or one of a dozen other German states. If the state is particularly small, such as Lippe, this is a very significant clue.

Canadian immigrants to the states in this time period often give their birth places as Upper Canada or Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec respectively). Sometimes they list West or East Canada (again meaning Ontario or Quebec).

While immigrants from other countries seldom provide such state or provincial information on census forms, Germans were the largest immigrant group of the nineteenth century so this should be considered an important resource for them. Even for Irish, English, Scandinavian and other immigrants, learning how they described their birth in these census records is important.

The census record may clarify if your British ancestor came from Scotland or Ireland. Or, it may define your Scandinavian ancestor as a Swede and not a Norwegian.

As you begin tracing the "original" immigrant in your family line, you may not be sure just who was really the immigrant. In such situations, these census records can confirm which persons were born in North America, and which were born elsewhere.

By the time of the 1880 census, most immigrants were simply naming the country itself (including Germany), rather than a specific state within the country.

The 1920 census is very important to note, as it pertains to immigrants of the late nineteenth century. This census was taken just after World War I, which saw the end of all four of Europe's major empires: Germany, Austria-Hungry, Russia, and the Ottoman (Turkish).

Since these countries no longer existed in their pre-war form, the census asked for the state or province within these empires where the individual was born. Perhaps only about half or fewer of the persons from these countries gave the information specifically requested, but in those situations, you will learn that an ancestor came from Moravia or Bohemia, rather than Austria. You may find Poland or Silesia, rather than Germany or Prussia. For the Austrian and Jewish immigrants of the late 1800s, this can be a significant piece of information.

The 1920 census also asked the person's native language (mother tongue). This can also help narrow down an immigrants place of origin in a European country where multiple languages were spoken.

Of course, this also points out that census information may be useful for early twentieth century immigrants, as well as those who arrived in the 1830s or later, who have lived to the 1860 or 1870 census. Because of this our consideration of records should not be tied too closely to one immigration period.

Specific Immigration Information in the Census

The 1870 census was the first to ask specifically about immigration. A small column, after the birth place column, indicates if the person's father or mother were of foreign birth. Although only a check mark is provided when the answer is positive (not the name of the country), this can still help identify the immigrant, although this typically pertains to pre-Civil War immigrants (whose children lived to 1870).

This small column was significantly expanded with the 1880 census, as the birth country of each person's parents was requested. Thus you will learn not only that a person's father or mother (or both) came from a foreign country, but the name of that country as well, even if that parent was long deceased.

Additional significant immigration information appeared in the 1900 census -- and most immigrants of the post-Civil War period did live to that census. In that year, the census asked the specific year of immigration for foreign-born residents. While the year given may not always be the actual year of immigration, experience has shown that it is seldom more than one or two years off.

Note that the further back in time the immigrant arrived, the greater the error may appear in his or her year of immigration. This is especially a problem if the person arrived as a child. She may not remember when the family immigrated, and therefore the date is only a guess. Also, in a few rare cases (perhaps about 2%) there is no answer to this question, even when the birth place column indicates foreign birth.

This same question also appears on the 1910 and 1920 censuses. Since immigrants are not always correct in answering this question, researchers should try to locate the immigrant in these later census records as well -- assuming he lived long enough. With three different censuses reporting the year of immigration, it is usually possible to arrive at some consensus regarding what year an immigrant arrived.

Of course, the value in learning when an immigrant arrived is significant. With the year of immigration, one may be able to search passenger lists and other sources of information.

Naturalization Information in the Census

Beginning in 1870, a small column identified male citizens age 21 or older. Thus, if an immigrant lists a foreign birth place in 1870, but is marked as a citizen in this column, the researcher knows to seek a naturalization record prior to 1870.

As with immigration information, the significant year for naturalization information in the U.S. census was 1900. The census that year asked the naturalization status of all foreign-born residents. One of three answers appears in the column:

Na -- the immigrant was already naturalized.

Pa -- the papers were filed, i.e. he was in the process of becoming naturalized. Generally this should suggest that the Declaration of Intent was filed, but that he had not yet petitioned for citizenship.

Al -- the resident was an alien. This should be interpreted to mean that the naturalization process had not yet started.

Naturalization status is also reported on the 1910 and 1920 censuses. The 1920 census also includes the year of naturalization, a very vital piece of information. This is crucial for finding naturalization documents, in part due to the significant changes to the naturalization process in 1906. Knowing if the immigrant was naturalized before or after 1906 suggests the proper court records to search.

Other Information from the Census

Of course, the census is full of additional information, any piece of which may help you more fully identify an immigrant. This includes his or her age (and even birth month and year in 1900), as well as the name of the spouse and (in 1900) the number of years married.

Even if the immigrant died before 1900, you can often determine the approximate year of immigration based on where the children were born. During this time period, young families often immigrated, so the first one or two children would have been born in the old country. Noting the ages of the children, and their birth places, you can calculate, within a year or two, when they arrived.

We often overlook older siblings of a North American born ancestor, and concentrate on searching for his or her parents. When older siblings were born in the old country, they likely lived in America longer than their parents and may have records which reflect their birth place, whereas the immigrant parents do not.

Also, do not overlook siblings of the immigrant ancestor. They, too, were likely born in the old country, and may be identified in the census. Sometimes they even lived with the specific ancestor, and only upon finding the ancestor in the census will you learn about previously unknown brothers or sisters.

Canadian census records offer another useful element of identification: many Canadian census records indicated the religion (church membership) of each resident. This can point researchers to church records, both in Canada and in the home country. As we will discuss in our next lesson, North American church records may well be the most useful when tracking immigrants from the post-Civil War era.

State Census Records

At times, various states took census records -- in addition to the federal censuses taken every ten years. Often those state census records captured information not found in the federal enumerations of the time. This may include immigration or naturalization information as well.

Some state censuses include even more information. Perhaps the most detailed state census is the 1925 Iowa census, which includes questions identifying the names (including maiden names), nativity and marriage of each resident's parents! Surely, for the descendants of immigrants living in Iowa at the time, this is a gold mine of information. The 1925 census of New York gives the date and place of naturalization for immigrants, thus helping locate those important records.

Conclusion

All too often in our research, we forget that our immigrant ancestors gave unique answers in the standard records. While we cheerfully search the census records because they record most people and group them into families, we often fail to look beyond the obvious.

Census records do provide the name, age, and relationship (indicated or presumed) of our family members, but they often tell so much more. Our task is to look at the entire census schedule, and seek clues to an immigrant's life.

If you have not yet had the opportunity to view one of these later census records, or don't remember where the immigration information is found on a specific census, you may want to review Beginning Genealogy Lesson 6 .

Assignments

1. Your first assignment for this lesson is to choose an immigrant who arrived after the Civil War and review what the 1870 and 1900 (or later) censuses say about his immigration. If you haven't yet found an immigrant in those records, get out there and start looking. A great place to start is the U.S. Census Collection online.

2. Check the list of post-Civil War state censuses below to see if your immigrant lived in any state that is covered by a state census (those with a "PC" indicate partial or incomplete census records):

Karen Clifford is the Founder and President of Genealogy Research Associates. She is an Accredited Genealogist, an instructor in an Associates Degree program in Library Science-Genealogy and Computers at Hartnell College (Salinas, California) and Monterey Peninsula College (Monterey, California). She has authored several family histories and textbooks including Genealogy & Computers for the Complete Beginner; Genealogy & Computers for the Determined Researcher; Genealogy & Computers for the Advanced Researcher, and Becoming an Accredited Genealogist.

Karen currently serves as Vice-president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and Vice-president of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA). She is a member of the California State Genealogy Alliance, the Association of Professional Genealogists, the National Genealogical Society, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In 1998 and 1999, Karen served as Director of UGA's Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.

She has received several awards for her volunteer work in the genealogy community including the FGS Award of Merit and the FGS Outstanding Delegate Award.